Justin Upton Rumors: Thursday

Arizona GM Kevin Towers told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that if the Diamondbacks make a trade this summer, it will probably be a deal involving MLB players, not prospects. Justin Upton is now generating as much discussion as any player in baseball. Here’s the latest on Arizona’s 24-year-old right-fielder:

Three of the four teams on Upton's limited no-trade list have changed since 2010, reports MLB.com's Steve Gilbert. In 2010, Upton's four teams were the Athletics, Indians, Royals and Tigers.

The Mariners are unlikely to acquire Upton since he would be a short-term addition for a team that isn't planning to contend until 2015, writes Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.

Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas looks at why and how the Rangers could trade for Upton, though Durrett says he doesn't think Texas would deal top prospect Jurickson Profar, who is "about as close to untouchable as this organization has right now."

Rival executives say Diamondbacks officials are willing to consider offers for Upton because they are not convinced that he is a winning player, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. Rosenthal predicts the Diamondbacks will trade Upton for a package of players including a young third baseman or shortstop and Major League help.

Some GMs are convinced the Diamondbacks will move Upton, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports. However, there probably won't be a high volume of serious suitors for Upton, Olney writes. The Pirates, Blue Jays, Rangers, Tigers, Braves, Cubs, Mariners, Indians, Mets and Reds are possible fits for Upton, Olney writes.

A competing executive suggested the Blue Jays could engage a third team if they wanted Upton badly and didn’t match perfectly with the Diamondbacks, Piecoro reports.

Another executive wondered why Towers will even listen on Upton, according to Piecoro. “Whenever a player like that is available, I think, ‘People who work in this game are smart. Why is he willing to trade a guy like that on a fairly reasonable contract?’” the person said.

Towers has had very few conversations with the Pirates, Jim Bowden of ESPN.com writes. Bowden considers five possible trade partners for Arizona should they decide to deal Upton.

The Bucs should Send 2 2nd tier prospects, draft pick and cash to Philly for Victorino. Then
send jameson taillon and cash to Houston for Jed Lowrie.
VictorinoLFWalker 2BMcCutchen CFJones RFAlverez 3Bmcgehee
1BLowrie SSFort Barajas CThat would be a top 3 line up in MLB
Sutton/Barmas/Harrison/Presley off the bench WOW!!!

As a Cubs fan, I’d take Baez off the table, just because the Cubs are far away from competing and shoudl probably be saving top prospects, rather than unloading them for Upton.

Now, if they want Vitters as that young 3B, all right! I just don’t tihnk that the Cubs could make a sensible trade where they got Upton and didn’t gut their farm. Tearing that down when you’re not going to compete is silly.

Exactly. The sudden mindset change is something that is completely throwing me off. If I were a General Manager and all of Upton’s health records came back fine, I would be pursuing him like no tomorrow. He has the potential to be one of the best middle of the order bats in baseball moving forward as he matures. He’s already shown signs of it with 30 + homerun seasons early in his 20’s. Upton is the type of talent you build your team around. If the Dbacks are serious about moving him, some team is going to be very very happy with the results Upton will provide.

I think what the other GM’s meant was that the D-Backs won’t win championships with Upton. He’s a great player but not what the Pirates are willing to give up for him. I can see him going to Texas or Detroit because of their elite 3rd base prospects

There aren’t many guys I would “take a chance on” with giving up Olt, but I think Upton would be one. I don’t like the lack of drive in him though. That’s a huge turn-off. How can you not try your best every time you take the field is beyond me.

This isn’t really all that big of a change in mindset. The day KT was hired as GM, every player on the team became available for the right price. The right price for Upton is a future star of the franchise that is MLB ready, at least, that is what the price is today.

KT has never been afraid to move anyone. If he can fleece a team and get more than Upton’s value, it’s his job to pull hte trigger. But he is not actively shopping Upton to anyone. He’s letting the people come to him with offers. Big difference.

He was brought up too early and never met expectations. Not a fan favorite as he has been hyped for six years by the marketing department, which has hurt him. Dbacks have 4 starting OF players with Kubel, Parra and Young playing better than Upton. A small market team like Phoenix can do much more with the money as he has an expanding contract to $15 Million in 2 years.

Iiving in arizona and watching upton especially last year that he will just break out and stay there forever, however he has been in the league for 4 years already, and they were saying the same thing about his brother and we have yet to see it from his brother, the physical aspect is there with both brothers, its not something they have done but I just don’t think the mental part for consistancy is not there, they lack patience both of them, and I just think towers sees that, I hope I am wrong and towers is wrong and he breaks out and become a monster for next 8-10 years because he seems like a good kid.

this is a feeling Kevin Towers has had since day 1, he has listened to trade offers for upton since Kevin took over. The reality is the dbacks wont be able to resign justin when this deal is up,and they dont want to be held hostage like the magic are with dwight howard.

Wow D-backs. This team is loaded in pitching and can make a serious 4-7 year run so they decide to trade.. Upton? I guess if they get equally talented players back with alot if upside.

Though I want him to stay in Arizona, a package of Profar, Olt and Harrison/ Perez will be hard to top. Ranger fans will disagree but you have to give up to talent to get talent. Olt and Profar could be the next Brandon wood or Michael Saunders, Upton is already a proven commodity and is only 24. He would rake in our stadium. Hamilition is likely walking so it makes sense.

No way Profar gets traded. Harrison maybe, but with much less sweeteners. I would offer Holland over Harrison as he offers more salary control. Someone on this board mentioned AZ has great pitching prospects. If so, Perez does little for them.

Absolutely not. Castro has much more potential as an all-around player and is also two years younger. He has longer to grow and fill in the holes in his game. I’m not trying to be negative toward Upton. He’s a very solid guy, but Castro has been a .300 hitter almost consistently. Upton is good for his pop and production, but Castro is our catalyst for offense.

Just wanted to see… I don’t watch Castro often, I know he has always hit for average but his OBP should be higher than .319 for a .291 average. I agree that Upton probably isn’t enough for Castro, especially since he’s a SS. However, I don’t think it’s terribly far off.

As a Cubs fan I don’t think I would, but it’s purely for contract reasons.

Upton’s contract is not bad at all, particularly if he performs more like his 2011 self than his 2012 self. But he’ll only have three years left on it, which is probably what the Cubs need to get into serious contention. In other words, by the time they’re competing, they’d have to give him another contract anyway. If everything clicks smoothly he might be around for one year of competing before a new contract is needed. Then we’re dealing with free agency anyway.

Yes, he could get extended (by us if we traded for him or by some other team if we didn’t) and that changes things somewhat, but I think all that uncertainty complicates the value proposition. A lot of our good prospects are outfielders as well and I don’t think we have much on the farm at shortstop (at least who is expected to stay there). Upton’s the better player, but is he the better fit? I’m not sure enough to pull the trigger on it.

I agree. It would be hard for the Cubs to give up the cheaper Castro, who plays a premium position for Upton (who really has been a better player offensively than Castro as Upton has a .350 or so OBP and Castro has a .319 OBP)

I think Upton is the better offensive player and may always be, but the fact that Castro is younger, cheaper, and technically still developing at a premium position makes me believe Theo and Jed would need a sweetner in the form of some of AZ top pitching prospects to involve Castro. I am not opposed to trading Castro, but the Cubs would need more then Upton in return. I wouldn’t rule out a deal as I think the Cubs are exploring all avenues, but I would say unlikely. I could see the Cubs revisiting in the offseason if Upton is still available and the Cubs have improved thier farm thru trades, but I doubt Castro would be in the deal. 3 way involving Garza is the only way I see it happen now. I doubt Vitters, Lake or BJAX would be even close to enough to land Upton and unfortunately those are probably the only descent tradeable upper tier prospects the cubs have and I dount anyone on the 25 man besides Castro would interest AZ.

I kept hearing shoulder problems too, but now the only thing I can find is that he missed 23 games in Sept. 2010 due to a shoulder injury… which presumably should have healed by now.

I don’t follow the dbacks, so maybe there are other injury concerns with Upton that are scaring off potential trade partners? At any rate, thank you for setting me straight with these “shoulder issues”.

Why? The dbacks are loaded with young pitching prospects. I don’t see how the Tigers could get it done unless the dbacks were willing to accept pitching prospects. Which they very well may, but I don’t see why.

Why would the Cubs have interest in a guy like Upton? We have our outfield of the future for the most part. Jackson and Campana may be centerpieces for the outfield. Jackson will probably be in left and Campana in center. Right field is a tossup I think. Upton could go there I guess.

Besides which, I don’t think the outfield is nearly as solid as you think it is. I love Campana but I am not sold on him as an everyday starter; I just don’t know that he will hit enough to take proper advantage of that speed. Jackson is on pace to set a record for striking out in the minor leagues so it’s scary to wonder what he would do in the majors. Even if he turns out to be solid (and I DO think he will be solid — mediocre BA, decent pop, a bit of speed, good defense is what I expect), anointing him as the answer is premature. The rest of the outfield prospects are too far away to hold spots open for.

Should they do it? I don’t think so, but heck yeah they should be interested.

Campana is a 4th OF and pinch runner, nothing more. IF their future OF is ANYTHING, it’s Jackson, Soler, and Szczur. Those last 2 guys are 2+ years away, and Jackson strikes out more than Adam Dunn, it seems. Their future OF is far from a certainty, but the reason that they shouldn’t do it is because they’re not close to competing and they don’t have a deep enough farm to consider emptying it for Upton.

You must not have heard of this guy named Soler, who the Cubs just gave a 9-year contract to… Prototypical right fielder and highly sought after Cuban prospect. I guess he’ll be comepeting with the great Tony Campana.

As good as Felix is, he isn’t the sort of player the Dbacks or KT trade for. With Bauer up, and Skaggs, Corbin, Bradly, Kennedy, Miley, and Cahill all in the mix, the Dbacks fine with the pitching they have that is already past the years of cost control. The Dbacks would likely be far more interested in a package including Hultzen, whom they already drafted once before.

That said though, moving Hultzen makes no sense for the Mariners since they aren’t going to be competitive for at least 2-3 more years.

Honestly, I see the most serious of those suggested teams to be Cleveland, Detroit, Mets, and Reds. Toronto, Texas, and Atlanta would probably be looking more for pitching than anything else in my opinion. Mariners and Cubs have absolutely no reason to be going after a big name guy like Upton because neither of them have any chance of contending in the near future. Pirates need offense, but all of their chips are in the minors. Not trying to be biased because I’m a Tigers fan, but I really do believe that if the Tigers go hard after Upton, they have the best shot out of all the teams to get him.

The DBacks are throwing a big time monkey wrench into the process by requesting proven major leaguers rather than prospects. Boesch has the potential for 20-25 HR and 80 RBI when he finally snaps out of his slump and I believe he just entered arbitration last offseason. Tigers can’t offer a shortstop that’s major league ready other than maybe a Danny Worth or Hernan Perez and neither of them are anything special. As far as a third baseman is concerned, I seriously doubt Castellanos will see the Majors in a Tigers uniform. I call BS on them trying to shift him to the OF and avoiding trading him. If I were the Tigers, I would start at Boesch, Castellanos, and maybe 2 single or double a position players (or Worth or Perez if ARZ has any interest in either of them).

I thought Towers was in win now mode. As in major-league ready talent. Do you really think they would take that? A package centered around Boesch and his .277 OBP? Unless the D’Backs FO changes their mind on wanting prospects, the Tigers don’t have the pieces. A slew of superstars and some filler…

I have no idea what the DBacks would and wouldnt take. I’m not Kevin Towers and I don’t know what his mindset is. I’m just throwing hypotheticals out there. I am in no way a former, current, or future GM or Team President, so I don’t know about the intricacies aand inner workings of a trade. I am coming from a purely amateur, speculative standpoint.

That’s cool. Nor am I. I just disagreed with your opinion that the Tigers had the best chance to get Upton. Personally, I think there’s something going on in Arizona that hasn’t been made public. There is absolutely no reason to trade him, and by going about it in this manner, they’re selling low.

It’s obvious management has soured on Upton. Their owner did the one thing you absolutely cannot do in professional sports: Publically bash a player that is currently on the active roster during the season. Their owner went on the radio and bashed Upton and Drew for their work ethic and lack of production. The fans are after Upton too. He pretty much said he doesnt care about the fans in an interview the other day and the boo birds are after him now more than ever. The trade talk isnt about his down year, its about a broken relationship between the DBacks front office and who was once (and possibly still) their star in the making

Same with the jays… they got bautista in right, and only have guys like Syndarguaard, Hechavarria, & a few others who could be a good trade. Maybe Lind, Cordero or Escobar/Johnson could be others to be dealt in the deal. Though with the money Upton could make I don’t see the Jays going that route or for a higher budget especially with the starting rotation help that we need.

They could consider Bogaerts or Cecchine, sure. I’m guessing they’d have to go with the former, along with quite a bit more. I doubt Cody Ross holds a lot of trade value. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Barnes would need to be in there, but it’d have to be 2 more significant pieces.

I’d love to do that, but it’ll never happen. Billy Hamilton would probably have to be included in the deal if we were to trade for Upton.

-Stubbs has proven he is a steady, speedy CF that has some pop at the plate, but Ks a TON and has trouble making contact at times.
-Bray has been a great LOOGY, good pitcher but Dusty never gives him a chance to be more than a LOOGY. Bullpen pieces aren’t going to headline a trade like this.
-Corcino is a great pitching prospect and could easily become a #2 or #3 starter, but he still has a lot to prove. I agree he would have to be included in any deal for Upton, though.
-LaMarre is a poor mans Billy Hamilton who could end up being a solid leadoff hitter with a .350+ OBP, but he doesn’t have much power and doesn’t steal enough bases to make him a highly valued commodity. He is a solid player, but by no means a future star.

Toronto isn’t going to trade Syndergaart, who has been compared to Halladay or Sanchez, likened to Chris Carpenter. Other teams can dream about them all they like, but Toronto has the offense, they need the pitching and giving up those two defeats the purpose, unless Arizona wants to trade Skaggs, Bauer and Upton to the Jays for those two. I don’t see that happening. lol. If the Cubs called about Syndergaart for Garza, Toronto would hang up on them. Toronto would have six years of control. Upton offers three, Garza one and both are expensive that provide no guarantees.

I wouldn’t want to do that. The Cubs don’t really end up in a better place than they were (considering they have to play LaHair, Soriano, and DeJesus for possible trade value), and they hurt their farm. The team wouldn’t be much closer to contention, and it would cost them their top-2 prospects.

i dont see another team offering better then olt, andrus perez for upton and drew.. to be honest they could sign a zack g or hamels too and still be cheaper than resigning hamilton.

i think andrus is more valuable than profar and i dont understand why other people dont agree. he has proven he can hit major league pitching and be an elite player. a top prospect is not more valuable than a 2 time all star with good defense and a ton of major league control.

BUT arizona wants major league ready talent so they would prefer andrus over profar

Dbacks have in-house talent to put in the OF if they trade Upton. That said though – they aren’t moving Upton.

KT does this every year. He is ALWAYS willing to listen to deals on EVERY player. If it makes sense for his team, and his team can get NOTICEABLY better as a result of the trade, he will do it. Upton is a very attractive piece. When asked if he would entertain offers for Upton, KT gave his canned respnse of, “I’ll listen to any deal that makes sense for my team.”

There is no fire under KT to trade away Upton for anything less than an equally bright future, and the teams with the pieces to make it happen are not in “sell” mode.

Now Drew on the other hand, I’ll be shocked if he is still around in a month.

We’re not trading a top 5 prospect, a top 50 prospect, and an additional top 10 (in the Mariner’s organization) for a guy who’s never proved he can hit for average and power outside of Arizona, let alone the stat killer known as SafeCo

Absolutely not. Lowrie’s been total garbage for the past 2+ weeks, if not month. Altuve’s not a game-changing bat on any given day, let alone for a season, like Upton can be. You’d be talking trading Altuve AND Lowire, plus 2 prospects, most likely.

You’re saying ‘no’ based on a 2 week slump when Upton is putting up worse season stats than Lowrie in general? Lowrie is a legit middle of the order bat and Springer is a top outfield prospect. Check yourself.

Altuve would also be a damn good return for Upton and is also hitting up better than Upton.

Except Lowrie and Altuve are playing at their best, which is about half of what Upton did last season, which isn’t his full potential. You’re talking about a former MVP candidate (former = recent) who could be a 30-20 guy with a good average.

I’m not trying to downplay Upton’s potential but lets be honest here, if he were playing at potential he wouldn’t be on the market. I have to believe there’s an element of low-buy going on in any Upton trade.

And if you bothered to look up George Springer, you’d see he’s on pace for a 30/30 .300 season in high-A ball with gold glove-potential defense. See I can throw the word potential around too. That plus Lowrie and filler is a very good deal.

Check the numbers. He led all NL short-stops in OPS going into the break. He was most certainly leading until his slump. For a NL squad that took 3 short-stops his omission was huge oversight. Fookie had no business being on the team, but he was voted in by fans.

Lowrie has double the HR of Jupton and a significantly better OPS this season. He’s the only SS in the top five of OPS who wasn’t selected.

I strongly disagree with the idea that Altuve and Lowrie don’t meet the ‘talent’ moniker. Altuve is having a .800 OPS and all-star year at the age of 22; his first full season in the big leagues. Lowrie is a top 3 SS in OPS. Both are above-average first division starters right now; no projection needed. In Altuve’s case he has 5 years of team control left with 2 of them being dirt-cheap pre-arbitration years.

If you look back in recent history at top bats being traded, you won’t find anything like the deals y’all are suggesting. Carlos Quinton was traded coming off an all-star season and didn’t yield anything like either offer I mentioned. Matt Holliday was traded for Husten Street, Carlos Gonzalez and filler. My offer of Lowrie/Springer/filler is awfully close to that.

I may be wrong about my trade offers but I don’t think they’re off by as much as everyone is saying.

It honestly makes no sense for the Houston Astros to make any trade for a guy like Justin Upton. The Astros won’t be in contention for a long time. Ed Wade made sure of that when he traded Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Roy Oswalt, and Lance Berkman for pretty much nothing. The Astros are in the rebuilding phase. It makes no sense for a team like the Astros, whom should be developing, drafting, and signing international talent for the farm system, to trade prospects for a guy who won’t make the Astros a contender on his own. Sorry, but it’s not happening.

you lost all credibility of having any understanding of baseball and logic when you included “filler” in a trade proposal centered around a: middle-of-the-order, allstar, slugger – who finished in the top 5 of MVP voting.

These rumors are all over the place. The actual comments from Towers make it perfectly clear that he never specifically said he wanted to trade Upton, only that nobody is untouchable. Furthermore, he said they are not in sell mode, they are in win mode. If Arizona does make a deal for anyone, they want it to be a major league for major league deal, not prospects. Actually, the exact quote from Kevin Towers is “We are not looking for prospects.”

So let’s define what Kevin Towers means by “major league players”. He doesn’t mean people like Cody Ross or Drew Stubbs. I don’t care if Justin Upton slept with his daughter, he isn’t going to trade the franchise player for guys that were on the scrap heap or lower free agent market last winter, or players that have yet to prove they are everyday major leaguers for the long haul. If a team like Texas thinks that Profar is ready to step in tomorrow and be the starting shortstop on a potential World Series contender, then a guy like Elvis Andrus would be a good starting spot for a deal. The Rangers would have to be absolutely 110% sure Profar is ready to trade an All-Star SS, but it is a viable possibility AND they are one of the few teams with the chops to make a deal that size. The other question is would Texas really want to mess with the chemistry of a team that is 52-34 and now has more team-wide World Series experience than any other AL team? Probably not.

Neither Profar or Olt has played a game above AA. Both are outstanding prospects, but would the Rangers hinge the current success of what looks to be their first 100 win team in franchise history on the potential of a rookie?

Though I’m not sure what the Diamondbacks would want in return for Upton, I’d be comfortable with the Indians offering up Lonnie Chisenhall, Felix Sterling, LeVon Washington and Jorge Martinez. I’d be happier if they could swing it for less, but I don’t think the Indians will get it done regardless.

Wasn’t Jose Bautista asking the Jays the other day to go out and get a big bat behind him? In my opinion this is where Upton fits best. In order to get something, you have to give something. The Blue Jays could start a package around Brett Lawrie a high potential third baseman, they can start a package around Colby Rasmus if they feel Upton would be a better bat/OF upgrade, they can start a package around Adeiny Hechavarria, they can use any of their young pitching arms not named Ricky Romero or Brandon Morrow and that would make for a very enticing package. Everyone is naming the Rangers as the most suitable fit for Upton, but I think the Blue Jays have the most say when it all comes down to it. Although Olt is very promising and Upton could easily replace Hamilton at seasons end. The one thing that does help the Pirates though is the fact that they need to make a big move (its been a long time since they have made one this ground shaking) and the fact that Towers was once a scout for them in the 90’s. It will be interesting to see how this deal shapes out and who (if) Upton is traded to/for.

As stated I just don’t think the Jays will be trading Lawrie at all, perhaps Rasmus, although he’s been stellar of late. And the other option Hech, is probably not MLB ready, and is not projected to be much of a hitter. I can’t imagine the d-backs making a trade with Hech as the centre piece. We can offer prospects, but the d-backs want MLB ready players, something we don’t really have. Maybe a deal that starts with escobar? However we do have somewhat of a place in LF.

McGehee is a scrap heap guy, could have be had for nothing – and was had for nothing – last winter. Presley is a 4th OF type, Tabata has regressed 50% all around and is in AAA now, Mercer is a nice player but he isn’t a prospect or a major leaguer, he screams AAAA to me. Any of the 3 starters would be a good add on piece to a deal,

If it is MLB ready young controllable talent they want the Mets have a boatload of that.

I figure a deal of Valdespin+Duda+Familla/Mejia+Flores+Dekker gets this deal done.Even though I normally don’t agree or believe what Olney writes I do agree theat Upton would be a great fit as long as it is for a good price.

If Bay hits that is a bonus.Plus Arizona gets two major leauge ready players with high ceilings added into a pretty good pitching prospect, a high ceiling prospect in flores and a decent outfield prospect in dekker.

I really wouldn’t want to trade Murph because he is a good averge hitter but more importantly it puts a lefty righty split at the top of the order.

Who knows! His arm could last his whole career and never give him problems like Randy Johnson or it could fall off in a month. That’s the volatility of pitchers and why I personally as a Mariners fan would love to see the Mariners openly start a bidding war for him. Hitting prospects are never a sure thing, but they don’t break as easily as pitchers. Other Mariners fans will say things like a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – this is why the Mariners should ask for 4!

Meanwhile, I’d be dangling some of those top pitching prospects for guys like Wil Myers and Justin Upton.

“3 of the 4 teams have changed” I like the Tigers’ chances of getting Upton now. Doubt he’d choose any of those other 3 teams over a chance to play with MCab and Prince. Hitting in front of those two would definitely alleviate some of the pressure that he can’t seem to handle in Arizona.

Dave Dombrowski should be all over this. Upton would be the missing #2 hole hitter with power we have needed all season. Capable of driving in speedsters like Austin Jackson and the 9-hole hitter (likely Dirks/Berry) but also fast enough to score from first base on a double from MCab or Prince. Arizona also has Joe Saunders that could contribute for the Tigers at the back end of the rotation. Saunders’ road numbers are great. I’m not saying he pitches to that level in the AL Central, but he’s a flyball pitcher that would do well at Comerica Park instead of Chase Field, especially with a great OF defense behind him. Lastly, AZ has excess IFs capable of upgrading 2b for the Tigers (Ryan Roberts, John McDonald, maybe even Stephen Drew). For those three different upgrades, not just Upton, I’d be ok with the Tigers parting with Castellanos and other pieces. Castellanos should definitely be a guy that interests Arizona as they want a 3b. This is really stretching but maybe the Tigers include Peralta to play 3b for AZ in the short-term (until Castellanos is ready for them) and the Tigers get not one but two defensive minded IFs to play SS and 2b and shore up the IF defense. With all the other above/average offensive talent Detroit has, I’m happy to sacrifice some SS and 2b offensive production for good defense up the middle. AZ seems pretty set with Bloomquist/Drew at SS and Hill at 2b. They could hypothetically send McDonald and Roberts to play SS and 2b for the Tigers.

I realize that there just saying this about Upton to lower his price but the dude has proven to be great for 3 season’s maybe the D-Back’s GM just doesn’t like him and it doesn’t seem like Gibson cares to much for him having benched Upton a few times already this season.

So a ‘rival’ executive says the D’Backs are not convinced that Upton is a “winning player?” Wow! Didn’t they just win their division LAST year? Wasn’t Upton a big part of that? Oh, keep talking trash, D’Backs. Before you know it, the Jays are going to pick your pockets.

I don’t understand why any organizations that MAY be (because I’ve seen no direct quotes, just lots of insinuation) upset with a player for any reason would ever let that information outside the organization.

Does Pepsi tell you that we’re really not happy with our soft drink, but please buy it and pay a premium price for it? Towers seems to be saying we don’t want him and you can’t have him.

Surprised I haven’t seen much talk about the Yankees here. Gardner doesn’t have a timetable for return, and we can only rely on Jones/Ibanez/Wise for so long. Upton could allow us to let Swisher walk after the year and we could control him for a few years after. Our package could be:
1) Eduardo Nunez (iron hands but good bat and speed, MLB ready)
2) Romine/Murphy/Sanchez (Catchers are always valuable)
3) Banuelos/Betances (everyone needs arms, they could have their pick)
4) Either Phelps/Warren or a hitting prospect like Bichette/Austin

Profar isn’t ready. He needs to spend next season in AAA. Elvis would be off the table because of that. The Diamondbacks wouldn’t get all 3 of Profar, Perez, and Olt for Upton, but you would definitely get a great package. Those are not nearly the only 3 really good players in Texas’ farm. I could see Olt, Buckel/Perez, Sardinas, etc…We also have Odor, Beltre, Loux, Ramirez, etc.

That’s too much, and I doubt they’d want Drew. Andrus is getting better and better. His average is already becoming more consistent than Upton. Obviously Upton has all the power though.
I think if the Diamondbacks want the best package possible they’d wait until we see what Hamilton does this Winter.

I hear ya. To clarify, I’d only be saying both Roberts and MacDonald if the Tigers included Peralta in the deal. The Dbacks might be able to use him at either 3b or SS for the meantime while Castellanos develops. It would be either Roberts or MacDonald if Peralta was not included.
As for the “other pieces”, I wasn’t trying to give the DBacks a lowball offer, rather just left it vague as I don’t know who exactly the Dbacks would want after Castellanos. I think Westlake or Loy would definitely be included too, depending on what Arizona wants. I could also see Casey Crosby included, but AZ has a lot of pitching already so I just wasn’t sure.